Rural Delhi, areas hit during riots outperform rest of city

Several wards in these regions crossed the 60% voting turnout mark, in comparison to Delhi’s overall average of 50.48%

Rural belts on Delhi’s periphery and the areas affected by the 2020 riots saw comparatively higher voter turnouts in the municipal elections held on Sunday, showed data from the state election commission.

Police officers guard ballot boxes after the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections in New Delhi. (PTI)

Several wards in these regions crossed the 60% voting turnout mark, in comparison to Delhi’s overall average of 50.48%.

The city’s highest turnout in an individual ward was in Bakhtawarpur, in the Capital’s north-west corner, at 65.72%

In northeast Delhi, which was the epicentre of the communal riots in February 2020, people said they voted for improved civic services and communal harmony.

In the Ghonda assembly constituency, which saw large-scale violence and destruction during the riots, especially in neighbourhoods such as Chand Bagh, Bhajanpura and Yamuna Vihar, the voter turnout was around 52%. In Braham Puri and Bhajanpura, the voter turnout was 54.5% and 53.2% respectively, whereas in Yamuna Vihar it was close to 50%.

Chauhan Bangar, where stone pelting near the Jafrabad Metro station between people supporting and protesting against the new citizenship law later snowballed into riots in northeast Delhi, saw the highest voter turnout in all of east and northeast Delhi at 61.9%.

This was the second municipal election after the riots in the area, though the boundary of the wards has changed after delimitation this year. Last year, Congress’ Zubair Ahmad Chaudhary won the election by 10,642 votes.

Residents said that after the delimitation exercise, Jafrabad was added to the ward, which has resulted in an increase in the Muslim population.

“People have not forgotten what they went through during the riots and after it,” said Chaudhary, who is not contesting this time.

Delhi’s rural belts on the outskirts also passed the average turnout. For instance, Chhawla in south-west Delhi clocked a turnout of 65.4%, Bhati in the south was at 62.49%, Dwarka-C was at 60.59% and Nangal Thakran at 59.28%. With the Yamuna at one end and the Delhi-Haryana border on the other, Bakhtawarpur ward covers around 16 villages near the Palla border.